When a heart attack kills his father, young architect Nick abandons his safe London life to volunteer in a village on the edge of the Sahara. Redemption awaits there, or so he hopes, a last chance to atone for an old sin. Alone in an unfamiliar world, dangerous currents soon pull him in: a simmering family conflict, hidden corruption and violence. And his hosts lonely wife, Margaret, is drawn to him by secrets of her own. Their attraction blurs the line between right and wrong. But when a killing drought descends, it brings an irrevocable moment of choice. To save those loves, should he take matters into his own hands? His decision has life-changing consequences for them all.

"From the award-winning author of Ishmael’s Oranges comes a searing novel with a profound moral conflict at its heart.
How much is justified, to save what you love?
How far is too far to right a wrong?
“Richly, hauntingly written […] immeasurably beautiful.” INDEPENDENT, on Ishmael’s Oranges."